Ashtrays have heretofore been proposed in which there are dead end holes in which the lighted tip of a cigarette may be extinguished.
It has also been proposed to provide open ended tubes attachable to an ashtray and in which the lighted tip of a cigarette is extinguished for lack of oxygen and the dead butt then pushed out by the next cigarette.
Exemplary of such a vertical tapered tube is that shown in U.S. Pat. No. 3,486,509 to Menold of Dec. 30, 1969, while generally horizontal such tubes are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 2,171,489 to Cameron of Aug. 29, 1939 and U.S. Pat. No. 2,768,631 to Russell of Oct. 30, 1956.
It has further been proposed to provide open ended tubes attachable to an ashtray and which hold the cigarette with the lighted end protruding from the lower end of the tube to retard combustion without extinguishing the same.
In U.S. Pat. No. 1,725,196 to Johnson of Aug. 20, 1929, the lighted tip of a cigarette inserted in a tubular orifice protrudes therefrom to engage a wall of another passage and thereby delay extinguishment. Similarly in U.S. Pat. No. 1,776,563 to MaCready of Sept. 23, 1930, a hooked arm, or foot, supports the protruding lighted end of a cigarette in a tube to enable the cigarette to burn slowly until the lighted part reaches into the tube for extinguishment due to lack of air.